Crossing The Atlantic

We are in Madeira tomorrow,  so Im writing this on Saturday and hoping we hit wifi or a cell tower on the Island that will update this message. 

It has been a blissfully calm crossing so far. We've had middling 20 degree weather every day; which is warm enough that you can sit out on deck reading by the pool, but aren't particularly motivated to get in it. No complaints. The seas have been shockingly flat, or nearly flat so far. Not that it means we don't still stumble around since there's a constant background sway and lurch happening underfoot. We definitely don't have our sea legs yet. I attempted a Stretching Class in the gym this morning and nearly converted a Downward Dog into a Flat On My Face Dog because a wave happened to rock us at the wrong moment. 

The food, as expected, is excessive and we're consuming massive quantities of it. The kids are pretty independent wandering the ship now, and go for soft serve ice cream 4-5 times a day! I'm so proud of how adventurous the kids have been at dinner - they often skip the kids menu in favour of exotic adult items (they've all gotten Escargots, Brendan raves every night about whatever new, heavily sauced beef dish he's gotten (ie. Beef Wellington with a red wine demi glaze)) as though there wasn't a time in the not too distant past where they all stuck with butter sandwiches. 

We've kept busy during our 9 straight days at sea. I could say we've been rock climbing, water sliding, pickle balling, archery-ing, minigolfing, shuffleboarding, cinema watching, hot tubbing, card playing,  slot machine pulling, track running, board gaming and swimming, but in reality it's been mostly napping and eating ice cream. And doing Gr 9 math. That's the least fun, but we're suffering through. It will be exciting tomorrow to set foot in Europe - we all got official Transatlantic Crossing Certificates today! 

Time to hit the next continent!

Nancy

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Soaking Up The Sun

2 am, Thursday morning - leaving home, with the heater cranked, headed to our flight out of  Montreal.

2 pm, Thursday afternoon- catching up on lost sleep, melting in the 28 degree sunshine, getting sunburnt on South Miami Beach.

Europe, Here We Come!

We're back, baby!! After 2 very long Covid years of cancelled trips and uncertainty we are sitting in an airport, champing at the bit to leave on the next epic adventure. 

I fear for the stamina of my travel companions - through a series of twists and turns this trip has become a mashup of 4 life list trips all in one, and it's gonna be a whirlwind!

We fly to Miami today, departing tomorrow on a 14 night Transatlantic cruise with my parents, celebrating our 20th Anniversary.

Then, we will spend 5 days sightseeing in the Netherlands. We've got a manor house rented on the Belgian border that looks like something out of a storybook. My brother and nephew are hoping to join us for this week, but haven't decided for sure yet. How do people like this sleep at night? 

Then, we'll drive my Mom and Dad back to the airport to fly home. We'll pick up bikes and do 3 days biking hostel (my first!) to hotel. For the middle night we have a converted "gypsy" wagon rented!

Then we'll say farewell to John and our bikes and take a train to France for 5 days in the Alsace,  a region in the northeast sandwiched between France and Germany. 

We'll finish up with 36 hours in Paris before we fly home on the 29th of May. Like I said, a whirlwind! Fingers crossed!!

We'll have minimal wifi and even less leisure time I expect,  but I will post if it's manageable. It will be interesting to see how close to the plan the actual trip turns out. If Covid has taught us anything it's that "You can plan, but don't plan on your plans"

The Road Home Is Always The Same

It's been 21 days of joy, but we're headed for home with a final 6 hour drive. We've had a fun time rehashing all our favourites - best playground,  best poutine,  best new stuffed animal, best sports car, best gas price, best animal encounter etc etc etc. 

It has been good for my soul to be on the road again. Even though there are some sad faces with today being the last day, it also means that tomorrow we get to start planning the next trip!!

A final picnic lunch on the St Lawrence river, which we have followed for 21 days. A final shoutout to our faithful driver, truck and home away from home - thanks for the memories!

Vieux Quebec

We spent our final day of sightseeing in Old Quebec City. Since tours were really the theme of this trip it will not come as a surprise that we started the day off with a Guided Tour of the Chateau Frontenac with our costumed interpreter Francois LeSomethingorOther.

Next we had a double decker bus tour of the highlights of Vieux Quebec.

The plan next was to wander the narrow alleys and soak in the ambiance of the 1700s era cobblestone streets. In reality we spent an equal amount of time soaking in the ambiance of T shirt shops and taking in local treats, but hey, when in Rome...

Barbe A Papa!

Crepes!

Ah, my favourite travel partners! Nobody wants to go home - a true sign of a great

Canyon Ste Anne

Visited an incredible gorge with John and Betty and Rowan just outside Ste Anne de Beaupre. 

We started with a seated zipline over the canyon that made my stomach flip. Here are Brendan and Betty looking cool, calm and collected. 

The gorge was surrounded by a really pretty trail and criss crossed by 3 progressively less stable feeling bridges.  Kona declined to cross halfway across yhe second one. 

Note the zipline passing overhead!

That's Rob in the middle,  carrying Kona.

After, Canyon Ste Anne we made our way to our final destination; Quebec City.

We finish the trip in camping opulence at a KOA, complete with double water slides, a hot tub and a store with Slush Puppies. Fighting the Ontario Provincial Park reservation system is looking pretty unappealing from now on...

Acropole des Draveurs - by the numbers

L'Acropole Des Draveurs - one of the most epic hikes in the Quebec Parks system. 

Elevation gain - 882 m of - thats higher than hiking Mont Tremblant as my brother unhelpfully pointed out the night before.

Distance - 11.2 km. A long hike, but not unmanageable for a family of hardy hikers. Except that Acropole is special.  Because it goes. Straight. Up. Could we do it? You bet. Because sometimes in life you have to do things just to prove you can. Or as Brendan less poetically summarized it "I can't believe we're doing all this for a view".

But what a view...

My new favourite family photo (:

As we rounded the final bend in the road leading into Parc De Hautes Gorges, my heart stopped. What had I gotten my family into? Harrison asked, "Is that the mountain we're summiting"?? I didn't know, but I sure hoped not. It was (essentially, technically the wall of rock continues to wrap all along the rivers edge, so we didn't hike this fave, but a wooded face around the corner).

Going up...

A nice gentle section of incline. These were rare...

The first summit. No lie, we started from the level of the river at the bottom of this valley!

The trail continues to summit #2 - the peak ahead in this picture. Im not usually afraid of heights, but my stomach did NOT care for this section. 

Made it!

Lunch on top of the world!

I'm so proud of my crew and so glad they all helped me check off this of my bucket list. #Justawalkinthepark, Ha!

Family Time!!

John and Betty and Rowan joined us last night in Malbaie for the next 3 days of sightseeing! 

We really packed it in today, with 3 museums/exhibitions technically!! 

We started at a neat Papeterie (paper making workshop), where we had a chance to learn how to use a quill pen!

Then we spent the morning touring the really interesting Maritime Museum of Charlevoix and learned all about shipbuilding and what an industry of wooden sailboats there were in the mid 20th century in the St Lawrence and climbing all over schooners and a tugboat!

This movie about the life of a boat was shown inside the hold of one of the cargo ships, and was narrated by the boat herself.

After lunch we explored the grounds. I think more museums should have wooded obstacle  courses!

After a bit of gift shopping, we hit a chocolaterie in Les Eboulements. Rowan is a chocolate shop expert, so it seemed a fitting destination. And wow,wowat an experience. You could get chocolate dipped soft serve, but the chocolate dip was genuine, thick, melted chocolate in no less than 10 flavours. I chose Guyana sourced milk chocolate; it was phenomenal !

We went back to the campsite for a rest and to play with poor bored Kona and then headed back out for 1 more museum (I've only got 4 days left,  I've gotta squeeze as much out of this trip as I can!!)

The Charlevoix area was shaped by a giant meteorite impact 400 million years ago and a tiny museum in the middle of the Fairmont Richelieu golf course puts on a presentation at 4 pm each day in English explaining it, animating it on a 3D topographical map and letting you snuggle with real meteorites! So cool!!

Then back to the campsite for dinner and to plan our next trip.